Elayne Boosler
Elayne Boosler (born August 18, 1952) is an American comedian and advocate for animal rescue. Early Life Boosler and raised in Brooklyn. She was the youngest child and only daughter of her father, a Russian acrobat, and her mother Romanian ballerina. She attended public schools in Brooklyn, including Shellbank Junior High School and Sheepshead Bay High School. Boosler is married to Bill Siddons, music industry executive and former manager of The Doors. Career Early Work After a job as a singer/dancer in touring companies and many unsuccessful waitressing jobs, Boosler worked as doorman at The Improvisation comedy club in New York for two and a half years. While working there, she met comedian Andy Kaufman, a regular at the club, who convinced her she should do standup comedy. The two lived together in Greenwich Village for three years and have remained close friends until Kaufman's death. For her "comedy education" Boosler credits Kaufman as well as her other peers at the time, which included Freddie Prinze, Jay Leno, Larry David, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, Jimmie Walker and Ed Bluestone. Cable Shows In 1986, Boosler became the first female to get her own one-hour comedy special when Showtime aired Party of One. Having no credit cards or borrowing power, Boosler saved her money to produce the special herself when cable executives told her they didn't believe people would tune in to see a female do an hour of comedy. She successfully toured for 50 weeks a year performing a two-hour comedy show. People magazine gave it an 'A'. John J. O'Connor in the New York Times wrote "How refreshing, a woman who doesn't have to tear her skin off for out amusement...an attractive human being simply standing their being funny, the first to feel she doesn't have to be qrotesque...." In 1988, in an appearance on CNN's Crossfire program, near the end of the show she called Mother Teresa a hypocrite because "she did not bring birth control to Calcutta." Hosts Michael Kinsley and Robert Novak both gasped and were visibly shaken. The show quickly cut to a commercial. Up to 2011m Boosler has done several cable specials. Her one-hour standup comedy concert specials for Showtime includes: Party of One, Broadway Baby, Top Tomata (broadcast live from Omaha and Voted Best Comedy Special of the Year by readers of Cable Guide magazine) and Live Nude Girls. Her New Year's Eve comedy-variety special Elayne Boosler's Midnight Hour was a 90-minute special from a Town Hall in New York and telecast live on Showtime. Elayne has also written, directed and acted in two half-hour movies for Cinemax called Come From Here (a drama) and The Call. In 2004, Boosler hosted the short-lived game show Balderdash on PAX (now ion television). Other television guests-host duties includes: A.M. San Francisco, The Late Show, The Midnight Special, Comic Strip Live, Friday Night Videos, The Gossip Show (on E!) and many specials. She has contributed field pieces to many shows including The Today Show, Not Necessarily the News and Donny and Marie. In the early days of cable, Boosler wrote and hosted the Pollstar Awards three times, the Daytime Emmys, the Casting Director's Guild and many others. Cable and Network Television Appearances Besides her standup comedy career, Boosler has also guest-starred as an actress on Night Court, The Cosby Show, Living Single, Dear John, Sisters and has done cartoon voice over work for Dr. Katz-Professional Therapist. She guested on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect 32 times. The year before Kaufman's death, she and Kaufman wrote his last special together, Soundstage: Andy Kaufman wherein she and Andy Kaufman performed an interview with Kaufman seated at a desk that towered over her by eight feet. Boosler appeared on HBO's Comic Relief for six years. She appeared on ABC's A Festival at Ford's Theater, entertaining President Clinton and congress. Her specials ran for years on the BBC, and she has performed twice at the London Palladium once for a live Easter special and once at the Command Performance for the Queen. She was the first comedian chosen by President Clinton to perform at the White House Press Correspondents' dinner during his first year in office. Political Activism Boosler is active in liberal politics. On July 11, 2003, she moderated a Democratic presidential candidates debate on C-Span hosted by the National Organization for Women. She is also a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post. She works on behalf of women's reproductive freedom and has been honored by the "Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project". She has been frequent guests during election cycles on Larry King Live and after-debate roundtables on CNN and locals news channels. She has appeared frequently on CNN & Co. For three years she was the permanent guest host for Stephanie Miller on The Stephanie Miller Show, a progressive radio talk show. Animal Rescue and Advocacy Boosler began volunteering at Boxer rescue of Los Angeles in 1995. She eventually joined its Board of Directors and raised the down payment needed for them to buy a recue kennel. She moved on and founded her own animal rescue and advocacy organization, (Elayne Boosler's) Tails of Joy in 2001. Tails of Joy is a non-profit organization that benefits the smallest, neediest recue organizations and individual cases nationwide. Shows appeared *''Hollywood Squares'' *''Jeopardy!'' *''Celebrity Sweepstakes'' *''Break the Bank '76'' Show Hosted Balderdash Links Elayne's Official Website Elayne's Animal Activism Website Elayne's Official Twitter Page Elayne's Official Facebook Page Category:Hostesses Category:Panelists Category:Contestants Category:People Category:1952 Births